Bahnsen biography
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After starting a promising career in philosophy, Bahnsen moved into teaching, and his works, filled with underappreciated philosophical insights, never quite catapulted him into the limelight.
Whether one buys into Bahnsen's philosophies wholeheartedly or not, one thing's for sure: his work deserves more than a cursory glance. Since then, we have added new offices in Minnesota, Tennessee, Arizona, Oregon, Texas (two cities), Florida, and Michigan.
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Despite living a largely quiet academic life, his theories on will, individuality, and driving personal conflicts underneath human actions set him apart.
Bahnsen might not be trending on Twitter today, but his thoughts on the dualistic nature of the human will could be a game-changer for anyone tired of one-dimensional characterizations in human stories.
Education
There he studied philosophy and in 1853 graduated under Friedrich Theodor Vischer with a topic relating to the aesthetics.
Career
Bahnsen is usually considered the originator of characterology and a real-dialectical method of philosophical reflection which he laid down in his two-volume Contributions to Characterology (1867) and developed forth with his following works, amongst others his opus magnum The Contradiction in the Knowledge and Being of the World (1880/82).
He offers neither easy answers nor sweeping optimism, but delivers his thoughts on life with a raw honesty. Understanding and accepting the contradictions within each person's psyche might just be what’s needed in fostering greater patience and dialogue. He advocates for living authentically with our myriad contradictions instead of constantly aim for a pre-packaged narrative of success.
From a young age, a student of enterprise was born…
As David progressed through elementary school, his role model became Alex P. Keaton, a fictional television character who was determined to work on Wall Street and held devoutly conservative views. A year later, David would endure the greatest test of his career, as the financial crisis devastated the American economy and financial markets, and even threatened to take down the firm at which David was now a Managing Director.
He guided his clients through that period with no client attrition and saw that experience serve as an incredible validation of what he believed about financial management.
By 1980, David Bahnsen found himself immersed in the Reagan-Carter election, had received a National Review subscription for his birthday, and was joyfully learning all he could about free markets and business cycles.
The story of The Bahnsen Group began with a kid obsessed with history, economics, and politics at the age of five. His dualism doesn’t claim to be an antidote, but an invitation to ponder what it means to exist truly, in all shades.
If we consider Bahnsen in today’s chaotic societal and political climate, his advocacy for recognizing internal strife speaks volumes.
Since the nature of unreasonableness consists in contradiction—particularly the contemporaneous existence of multiple will directions attaching themselves to each other—it follows that not only reality is a continuous struggle of material contrasts (real-dialectic), but that the inside of each individual is addicted to the insolvable antagonism of opposite will directions (will collisions) as well.
Bahnsen negates a redemption of the countless will units (“will henades”, as he expresses it himself) and postulates the permanence of the existence of the contradiction as a basic nature of the world, whereby the law of this world becomes a tragic world order.
The real-dialectical side of his teachings Bahnsen laid down in the paper On the Philosophy of History (1871), his central work The Contradiction in the Knowledge and Being of the World (1880/82), and his anniversary publication to the jubilee of the city Tübingen The Tragical as World Law and Humour as Aesthetic Shape of the Metaphysical (1877).
Julius Bahnsen: The Forgotten Philosopher Who Challenged the Status Quo
Imagine a philosopher who stands on the precipice between pessimism and individuality, staring down the abyss of human struggle and shouting, 'You do you even amidst the chaos!' That was Julius Bahnsen, a 19th-century German thinker who dared to scrutinize the human condition with an unflinching eye.
As a disciple of Schopenhauer, Bahnsen dared a mergence of Hegel’s dialectic (which Bahnsen, however, accepted only within the realms of the abstract) and Schopenhauer’s monism.
This characterological element of Bahnsen’s teachings, on which the works of such philosophers as Ludwig Klages are build upon, is laid down in the Contributions to Characterology (1867) as well as the disquisitions On the Relationship Between Will and Motive (1870) and Mosaics and Silhouettes (1877).
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The Bahnsen Group is regularly recognized as one of the top advisors in the country by Barron’s, Forbes, and the Financial Times, and David has become a nationally sought-after financial markets commentator.
The lessons here aren’t grandiose; they're rather humbling, speaking to the perpetual duality in each of us.
Despite the daunting backdrop of Bahnsen’s philosophy, his refusal to sweeten the pill of reality offers a unique vantage point. By 2007, he had built the business to a $1 million revenue practice and was being heavily recruited by competitor Wall Street firms.
In May of 2007 David made the move to the prestigious firm of Morgan Stanley, bringing over $100 million of client assets.
Within two years, David was a top new advisor in his class and began building out a practice as a sole practitioner, slowly adding administrative help.